Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2016) 131: 109
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2016-16109-4

Regular Article

Dynamics of a vibrational energy harvester with a bistable beam: voltage response identification by multiscale entropy and “0-1” test

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, BA2 7AY, Bath, UK
² Structural Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, 92093, La Jolla, CA, USA
³ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka 36, 20-807, Lublin, Poland
⁴ Laboratoire de Génie Electrique et Ferroélectricité, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, 8 rue de la Physique, 69621, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

^* e-mail: g.litak@pollub.pl

Received: 28 August 2015
Accepted: 8 March 2016
Published online: 21 April 2016

Abstract

The use of bistable laminates is a potential approach to realize broadband piezoelectric-based energy harvesting by introducing elastic non-linearities to the system. In this paper the dynamic response of a piezoelectric material attached to a bistable laminate beam is examined based on the experimental measurement of the generated voltage-time series. The system was subjected to harmonic excitations and exhibited single-well and snap-through vibrations of both periodic and chaotic character. The ability to identify the vibration modes of the energy harvester is important since different levels of power are expected in each dynamic mode. We identify the dynamics of the selected system response using return maps, multiscale entropy, and “0-1” test. The potential of the approaches to identify periodic and chaotic modes and snap-through events in the non-linear bistable harvester is described.